RNF '96 Kingfish

Lost RNF '96 Kingfish Surfboard

We thought about it for years, yet never pulled the trigger.  After all these years as the top selling and most popular “Fish” model in the world, the “little disc” is now stretched out (and sleeked up) into our line of Mid-Length Mayhems.  It’s no secret that many of us who started riding fish in the mid-‘90s are now into our ‘50s, not surfing every day and distracted by life’s trials and tribulations. We’ve grown up…and now, our favorite board has grown up too.

Containing all the proven design details and DNA as the RNF_96, from which is “spawned”, the RNF ’96_KINGFISH features:

• Low entry rocker, for paddling through line-ups, ease in catching waves and plenty of glide, to take you where you wanna go, once you’re on one.
• Flattish deck, with full, down/soft rails, for floatation and stability. The flat deck allows us to stay relatively thin with the KINGFISH, keeping the deck-line curvy.
• Even the larger sizes are relatively nimble, flexible and forgiving underfoot.
• Balanced outline, with modest width in the nose and tail, which both measure the same width, on all sizes, retaining plenty of central curve in the outline, for turning.  The tail is still similar width to a shortboard and combined with the shallow swallow, it doesn’t feel “too fishy”, allowing real turns.
• Bottom contours are flat up front, blending to a single concave throughout the center, tapering to a double concave Vee, from the front fins, which accelerates to deep Vee, out the swallow tail.

The KINGFISH is designed to be ridden 6” (on average) longer than you would the RNF’96, although you can easily go shorter on the small sizes and extend longer on the larger sizes.  With this in mind, we continued bending the tail rocker and scooping the deck out, as the boards increase in size, so although the board is longer, it doesn’t feel stiff and hard to turn. The nose and tail remain relatively thin and foiled in all sizes.  Like its predecessor, the fin placement on the RNF’96_KINGFISH remains and 2+1 set-up. Twins up front, with a small trailer, is how it’s built and designed to be ridden. The fin placement has been designed and tested to allow an open sweet spot, where you don’t need to be standing on the tail to turn this board.

You’ve grown up. Has your board evolved with you?